Extra practice pays off for Aquinas as high school wins state title

The players wanted to go home for Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, but Aquinas coach Chris Battaglia wanted them to practice just one more play.

With photo gallery

Craig Potter

The players wanted to go home for Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, but Aquinas coach Chris Battaglia wanted them to practice just one more play.

That extra practice helped the Little Irish secure the New York State Class A football championship when sophomore defensive back Anthony Bianchi intercepted a pass and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown. Section 5 and Western Regional champion Aquinas went on to post a 34-12 victory over Lansingburgh, the Section 2 winner, in the state title game on Friday at the Carrier Dome.

"Yesterday we ran that play three times in practice," Battaglia said. "The kids were all yelling at me because they wanted to go to Thanksgiving dinner. And I kept running pitch-pass and they kept getting mad at me."

In the fourth quarter with the Knights trailing 21-12 and the ball on their own 40 with fourth-and-seven, quarterback Connor Gallo pitched the ball to running back Kenny Youngs, who lofted a pass down to the Aquinas 30.

"Today I remembered, as soon as the quarterback pitch, he started rolling out, so I was like this has got to be the play," Bianchi said. "I ran over there and the ball luckily was floating in the air. I got over in time to bring it down, and bring it back." Bianchi scampered 70 yards down the Lansingburgh sideline into the end zone.

"As soon as I saw it coming out, the receiver wasn't really being aggressive going for the ball, so I just sprinted over," Bianchi said.

The Irish bolted to a 28-12 margin. The game was first time Bianchi played on the Carrier Dome turf, but wasn't the first time he had been here for a state championship contest. His father, Anthony Bianchi Sr., coached Webster Schroeder to three state Class AA titles (1999, 2001, and 2002, and was a state finalist in 2000 and 2003), as the younger Bianchi was a ball boy those years.

"It was a great feeling back then." said the junior Bianchi said, who later hauled in a tipped pass late in the fourth quarter for his second interception of the game.

"I always looked up to the guys there. They were big roll-models to me. "I figured some day I would be able to come here and play. Today was my chance and I performed really well."

The senior Bianchi became the Aquinas Athletic Director two years ago, and hired Battaglia, who was his assistant coach at Schroeder before leaving to become the head coach at Penfield from 2001-05, as his head football coach in 2006. "13-0 is a new Aquinas record," Battaglia said. "Over the last 30 years, no one has been undefeated. I can't explain the feeling, it's unbelievable. We just played great today. It was a great game."

Anthony Fitts received the Most Valuable Player award as the Aquinas senior scored three touchdowns while gaining 159 yards on 25 carries. "It feels good, my last season to go undefeated, win the Most Valuable Player, and win the state," Fitts said. "It's a good accomplishment and I feel good about it. "To go undefeated at 13-0 is the first time in history, so it's a pretty big accomplishment. We played hard, executed our game plan, read our blocks and read our reads and got it done. Everybody was saying in training camp that we should go all the way and win the whole thing, so we had to live up to the hype."

Devin Worthington, who led the Irish with 16 tackles, kept the Knights from tying the game on extra points. "I just told Matt (Jones) to clear it out for me. I was going to go hard to do what I can to block this kick," said the junior linebacker who blocked the PAT on Lansingburgh's first score. "Nothing is a gimme in a state championship. You just go hard every play, and I actually got the block."

Worthington, along with teammates Cedrick Barber and Rick Antelli, stuffed the two-point run following the Knights' second touchdown that kept Aquinas in front 14-12 at halftime. "Ced did a good job of reading the line and collapsed on the quarterback, and Ricky and I just jumped on him and stopped him," Worthington said. "It was a good stop."

Aquinas junior lineman Marquis Albert received the Sportsmanship Award, and Antelli received the Most Valuable Offensive Lineman Award. Aquinas senior Matt Jones was named the Most Valuable Defensive Lineman in the game as he will returned to the Dome in the fall to play for the Syracuse Orange.

Greece Post writer Craig Potter can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 351, or at cpotter@mpnewspapers.com

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